Vending-machine.



- PATENTED SEPT. -l, 1903.

G. RUPLEY. y VENDING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 12, 1902.

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H0 MODEL.

Attorney 210.737,66). 2 H PATENTBD sEPT.v1,1`9o3.

1 G. RUPLEY.

VENDING MACHINE. APPLIUATION FILED JULY 12, 1902.

No MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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UNTTED y STATES Patented September 1, 1903.

PATENT OEEICE.

GEORGE RUPLEY, OF DULUTI-I, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO THE VENDING MACHINE COMPANY, OF DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

VENDING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 737,665, dated September 1, 1903.

Application tiled July 12,1902. Serial No. 115.344. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern.-

Beit known that I, GEORGE RUPLEY, a resident of Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vending-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to 'make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improved vending-machine, the object of the invention being to provide improvedl mechanism for ejecting the articles or receptacles containing the same and insure the operation of but a single receptacle at a time, and,further, to provide improved means'for retaining all of the receptacles in position and releasing but a single one at a time.

With these objects in view the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view, partly in section, illustrating my im-V provements. Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing some of the trays released. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken at right angles to Fig. 2, and Figs. 4, and 6 are views of various details of construction.

1 represents the frame of the machine, in which is mounted a shaft 2, turned bya crankarm or byany approved mechanism, and, if desired, coin operated or controlled mechanism may he provided to lock this shaft against turning. Secured to the roar ot the frame and supporting one end of a se'ries of trays or receptacles are vertical rods 3, which latter are bent or made with shoulders 4 to support the trays, which are slotted, as shown at 5, to move on the rods. These trays are supported at their opposite end on toothed wheels ticles thereon. To prevent the movement of the trays until the proper time and then only permit a single tray to be moved, I mount a hinged frame 6 as shown in detail in Fig. 5 and secure to shaft 2 a cam-wheel 7 to operate the same. This frame comprises a long arm 8, bent at right angles to project beneath the trays and made with an upturned finger 9 to project into an opening in the bottom tray and prevent its movement. The frame 6"L is also made with an upright arm 10, bent at an angle at its upper end and resting on the periphery of cam-wheel 'Zand adapted to be moved thereby to move locking-arm into position to lock the trays or permit said arm to fall when a tray is to be ejected. This cam-wheel 7 comprises, in effect, four teeth, one face of the teeth tapering or inclining to the base of the adjacent tooth and forming a cam-face to engage the bent end of arm lO and lift the linger 9 into the opening in the tray and hold it there until a tooth of the cam-wheel is passed, when the arm 10 Will fall onto the lowest point of the next camface and the tray be freed long enough to permit its ejection. All of the trays except the bottom one are prevented from longitu dinal movementby ahinged barll, adjacentto the ends of the trays. This bar may be swung back out of the way when the trays are returned to their horizontal operative position.

Instead of employing frame 6a I might secure to the bar l1 a spring-pressed finger l2 to yieldingly holdthe bottom tray and prevent its accidental movement; but the frame 6a is preferred. j y

The operation of my improvement is as follows: When it is desiredl to remove an article, the shaft 2 is turned to turn wheels 6 and 7, the latter turning far enough to permit arm 10 to fall from one tooth of the wheel onto the other, thus dropping arm 8 to release finger 9 from the opening in the bottom tray. The turning of wheels 6 serves to move a tooth of said wheels against the end of the lowesttray and force the latter longitudinally far enough to aline the slots 5 therein with shoulders 4, when the tray will fall to avertioal position shown and eject the article or articles thereon. The next cam-face of wheel 7 immediately begins its action on bent arm 10 to elevate arm 8 and raise the finger 9 into the opening of the next tray and hold the same against movement until the operation above described is repeated, and by repeating this operation again and again all of the trays can be emptied in their order from the lowest to the highest.

A great manyslight changes might be made in the general form and arrangement of the several parts described without departing from my invention, and hence I do not limit myself to the precise construction set forth, but consider myself at liberty to make such slight changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination with a tray or article to be moved, of a rod having a shoulder to support one end of saidtray or article, and a toothed Wheel to engage the tray and move it from said shoulder.

2. The combination with a series of trays or articles disposed one on top of the other, of a rod having a shoulder to support one end of said trays or articles, which latter are slotted to receive the rod, and a toothed Wheel to engage the bottom tray or article and move it to aline its slot with the shoulder and permit the tray or article to fall.

3. The combination with a series of trays or articles to be removed disposed one on top of the other, of a rod havinga shoulder to support one end of the trays or articles which latter are slotted to receive the rod, a toothed Wheel to engage the bottom tray or articlel and move it to aline its slot with the shoulder and permit the tray or article to fall, and locking means to engage the next lowest tray and hold it inplace until the wheel is again operated.

4. The combination with a series of trays or articles to be removed disposed one on top of the other, of a shaft, a toothed wheel on said shaft supporting one end of the trays and vadapted to eject said bottom tray when the shaft is turned, mechanism to lock said tray and a cam-wheel on the shaft to release said locking mechanism.

5. In a vending-machine, the combination with a series or pile of trays, of a shaft, toothed wheels on said shaft supporting one end of the trays and adapted to eject the lowest tray when the shaft is turned, a hinged frame, an arm on said frame having a finger to project `into an opening in the lowest tray and lock it against movement, a cam-wheel on the shaft, and a bent arm on the frame engaged by the cam-Wheel to hold said finger in the opening and permit the frame to fall and release the tray when the shaft is first turned.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE .RUPLEY Witnesses:

G. W. BUCK, R. S. MANLEY. 

